This invention relates to a toy stick device comprising a stick having a ring disposed thereon with clearance therebetween which with the exercise of requisite skill may be made to twirl about said stick and travel axially forwardly and rearwardly thereof with a downward and upward tilting of said stick, said stick having a pair of spaced stop members thereon to reverse the direction of travel of said twirling ring.
A related toy device is disclosed in the British Pat. No. 317,464, dated July 17, 1930, and issued to Walter Real. This patent discloses in its preferred embodiment an endless circular wire having a disc thereon to be rotated thereon for continuous travel in one direction. As the modification of the circular wire, the inventor suggests that a straight wire may be used and such a wire is shown being unobstructed for its entire length. It is difficult to twirl such a ring about such a wire for travel thereon and for reversing the direction of travel of such ring without having the ring run or travel off the end of the straight wire. It is conceivably possible to do so, but to accomplish this is very difficult and would appear to make the toy device impractical and unworkable.
The structure herein embodies an improvement over what is disclosed in the British patent and makes the toy a workable toy. The structure herein includes bumpers or stop members at the free end of the stick and adjacent the handle end portion thereof whereby the ring member in being twirled along the stick is made to reverse direction of travel by engagement with said stop members. As simple as this improvement may appear to be, there does not appear to be any teaching or disclosure in the art to indicate such an improvement. Hence, this relatively simple unobvious structural improvement makes what is disclosed in the British patent into a practical operable toy for which the requisite skill for its operation may be readily acquired.
It is an object of this invention therefore, to provide a very practical toy stick device which for its successful operation develops skill in coordination and timing on the part of the operator.
It is another object of this invention to provide a toy stick device having a ring mounted thereon to be twirled thereabout for forwardly and rearwardly travel thereon with the application of requisite skill.
More specifically stated, it is an object of the invention herein to provide a toy stick device having a ring disposed on a stick having sufficient clearance thereabout to be freely twirled thereabout and a pair of annular ribs spaced axially of said stick forming step members whereby the direction of travel of said ring when twirling along said stick may be reversed between said stop members by engagement therewith and a handle portion is provided at one end of said stick outwardly of the adjacent stop member.